Women tennis players should play five-set matches at Wimbledon like the stars of the men's game because playing just three is degrading, academics have argued.

They said it is "indefensible" and "out-dated" to make the likes of Petra Kvitova and Johanna Konta play shorter matches than Roger Federer and Andy Murray.

Dr Paul Davis, from the University of Sunderland, and Lisa Edwards, a senior lecturer at Cardiff Metropolitan University, said the practice underlined false beliefs about women's physical limitations and outmoded ideals of femininity.

They argued that women play 90 minutes of football, 80 minutes of rugby, 18 holes of golf and run the same distance in a marathon as men.

Serena Williams in action against Luxembourg's Mandy Minella during day Two of the Wimbledon Championships

In their paper, Is It Defensible For Women To Play Fewer Sets Than Men In Grand Slam Tennis?, which is due to be published later this year, they say it also fuels the argument against equal prize money which women fought for so long to achieve.

Dr Davis, who is chairman of the British Philosophy of Sport Association, said: "The Grand Slam sex-based sets disparity is a cultural tradition which degrades women, as it reinforces a false stereotype of female incapacity and, in turn, a fast-dying notion of femininity, which is starkly challenged by what women do on the tennis court and in other sports.